Quote:
Originally Posted by Paranoid Android
Except you never actually made a supporting statement to why you think there isn't a difference. People do everything for the purpose of having something more than others, but that general similarity doesn't make the two things indifferent. While there's gamers that play MMORPG for the looks, there's many players who simply don't care about looks and play entirely for PvP and Guild vs Guild. That's when people start complaining about micro transactions breaking the game.
People already accept that money = better clothing and fancy appearances. Nobody want's to be in a match or watch an MMA match between a man with boxer gloves put up against another man piloting a stealth bomber. Gamers generally see that as being unfair or cheating. In any competitive gaming, people expect fair ground competition. And that's when micro transactions providing power boosting bonuses is looked really down upon.
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You're completely missing the point. What I'm saying is there's absolutely no difference between people competing against each other in pvp compared to people competing against each other in the game of who has the most outfits/pets/etc. The driving force, at the root of all of this, regardless of 'power' or 'cosmetics' is the same: to one up the Joneses, to use a cliche. More peer-reviewed studies than I could possibly reference have proven beyond a doubt that the typical person is driven by that basic motivation.
Which is why I continue to say that the entire basis for claiming there's a difference between buying power and cosmetics is based on a fallacy that pretends they aren't one and the same at a basic level.
To take a quick page from the post above mine, he's absolutely right that the basic premise of an MMO is put time into something, get something back. That doesn't just apply to your +10 Greatsword of Epeen. It applies to your Pet of Silly Squacking Noises as well. When you're able to buy a Pet of Silly Squacking Noises and bypass the time investment, there's absolutely no reason why that's somehow ok, while the same people moralize that it's not ok to sell +10 Greatswords of Epeen in the cash shop.